The Bees

1978 "They prey on HUMAN FLESH!"
4| 1h32m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 01 November 1978 Released
Producted By: New World Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Corporate smuggling of South American killer bees into the United States results in huge swarms terrorizing the northern hemisphere. A small team of scientists work desperately to destroy the threat, but the bees soon mutate into a super-intelligent species that threatens the world.

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Director

Alfredo Zacarías

Production Companies

New World Pictures

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The Bees Audience Reviews

Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .
SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Scott LeBrun "The Bees" is a gloriously awful animal attack thriller marked by some truly incompetent filmmaking, a ridiculous script, and some hilariously insipid acting. The story involves the corporate smuggling of killer bees into America, which causes a massive swarm such as the country has never seen. The scientists desperately trying to solve the problem (John Saxon as the egghead hero, the ravishing Angel Tompkins as his love interest, John Carradine as her German accented father) realize that they're going to have their hands full.Led by director Alfredo Zacharias ("Demonoid"), the filmmakers here miss any horror in the premise by bungling almost every action scene. Most of the time, the only possible reaction to the goings-on is laughter. Granted, some of the humor *is* intentional - there is an occasional priceless line such as "That's adding incest to injury." When it comes to the insect cast, we have a practical cast of thousands, and regarding the human actors, Saxon gamely tries to look serious, and Carradine is as genial as he's ever been. Mexican icon Claudio Brook appears early on as Tompkins' husband. There's even an appearance by the "President"! Highlights include a good ol' boy hiring kids to procure bees for him so he can treat his rheumatism with bee stings. There's a fair bit of violence and a couple of impressive vehicle crashes. Everything is capped off with a delightfully idiotic music score (composed by Richard Gillis) that completely works against any suspense that Zacharias and company might otherwise have created. The ending is priceless and right in tune with so many other ecologically themed thrillers of the 70s.Warner Bros., the makers of "The Swarm", went so far as to pay off New World, the American distributors of this flick, to delay their release so the two movies wouldn't be in direct competition.Five out of 10.
weho90069 "The Bees" is a LOT of fun (but you have to be willing to go along for the ride and NOT take it seriously at all). Kind of a cross between a TV sitcom (like "Three's Company") and Irwin Allen's (also laughable) "The Swarm", remember: it's all just goofy FUN. John Saxon (the hardest working B (or bee) Movie Actor of the 70s), dishy Angel Tompkins, and John Carradine (looking quite frail as Tompkins uncle "Ziggy" with an utterly fraudulent German accent) form a team of bee experts whose research and chutzpah come to the rescue when huge swarms of killer bees make their way to the United States (via corporate greed), wreaking (laughable) havoc. Humor abounds (both intentional and, more significantly, unintentional). The results are cornball, played to the campy hilt by all involved. The bee attacks are particularly amusing, underscored by goofy soundtrack music that goes disco at times when the bees get their close-ups. How can anyone not enjoy seeing the Rose Parade in Pasadena upset by an attack of the buzzing fiends? Face it, you WILL be rooting for the bees in this film, cheering them on as they go after the actors. SPOILER ALERT (AS IF with a movie like THIS!)...That the solution for the bee problem involves using pheromone sprays to confuse the male drone bees, tricking them into mating with each other (essentially turning the bees GAY!), and thereby somehow rendering them sterile (huh???) kicks this one out of the field. But it doesn't stop there...Saxon and Tompkins actually communicate with the bees and reach the United Nations to warn, "You have to listen! You have to listen to what the bees have to say!" "The Bees" must bee seen to bee beelieeved! Sure, the bee effects are hokey, but what would anyone honestly expect from a film like this? CGI??? This was 1978! Worthy of rediscovery, "The Bees" is just good, old, grade-Z, 70s bad-movie fun. Great to heckle (a la MST3K) with a swarm of your best friends. (Liquor (or your vice of choice) is highly recommended. Perhaps toast each bee attack with "the bees knees" (a simple combination of gin plus honey, shaken with ice, strained, and served straight-up) a popular Prohibition-era drink from The Savoy Cocktail Book.) Screen "The Bees" with any of your favorite bee-themed, B-Movies. Suggestions include: "Invasion of the Bee Girls" with honeys Victoria Vetri and Anitra Ford; Bruce Geller's Emmy- winning "The Savage Bees" TV Movie; "The Killer Bees" starring Kate Jackson and Gloria Swanson (a must-see, if you can find it); or the hypnotic episode titled "Zzzzz" from "The Outer Limits" (original series, of course). Or -- and this one you should already have thought of yourself -- precede "The Bees" with Hitchcock's "The Birds" and rely on guests' libidos to take the prurient overtones to the next level...(anyone for royal jelly and prophylactics?) Have a real stinger of an evening!
insomniac_rod I had the misfortune to watch a Spanish dubbed version of this movie. If the performances are horrible, the Spanish dubbing make them even worse! Seriously, the dubbing is laughable! You can't take seriously a movie when Mexican actors try to imitate the Cuban, English, or Arab accent. Claudio Brook looks creepy every time he appears on screen. I don't know how John Saxon (Dr. John Norman) got involved in this mess and his acting is certainly bad. The f/x are laughable. Poor production values were used for a movie that intended to be a huge hit. We shouldn't accept this kind of crap! Probably other people find it amusing because they're not used to this kind of ultra low budget movies. The worst thing about the movie is that it tried too hard to be a decent movie. You can say it failed.Avoid "The Bees" at all costs!Not even Mystery Science Theater material.
callanvass downright laughable but is entertaining on a so bad it's good level it has a lame music score extremely lame dialog laughable effects and the bees look fake at times with lots of laughable moments like when the girl jumps into the water keeps going underwater and says help me help me the acting is bad John Saxon actually comes out of this looking decent too bad his material was awful!!!!!!! i love John Saxon though come back soon!!! Angel Tompkins is so so here and spurts out dumb dialog John Carradine is completely over the top and campy but he is fun to watch plus all the characters are idiots and the effects suck and laughable bee attacks and the death scenes all suck! and that crappy ending where Saxon gets to deliver a bad speech and the ending stinks and leaves many questions unanswered and there is this idiot who actually wants a bee to sting him and there is tons of logic lapses overall horribly made and written but fun if your in the mood for a dumb movie fun don't get me wrong that does not mean this still isn't a lame flick because it is but it is just entertaining * out of 5 but i cannot recommend this unless you are desperate for bad B movies like this